I believe that MMA fighters should go where the money is. MMA fighting is a short lived career.
BJ will get at least 3 times the money in this fight, than he would from the UFC. Go for it.
BJ fighting in K-1 is no worse in many ways than Chuck fighting in the Pride GP, if Chuck got destroyed it would have made UFC look bad, same with Ricco. Yet they were allowed to fight.
Unless stipulated in a contract, a fighter should be allowed to fight outside of there regular organization.
So many people seem to just be clueless.
So BJ said he "still wants to fight in the UFC." When? If K-1 offers him 4 fights this year at $150,000 each, where is he going to squeeze in 3 or so title defenses for the UFC at half that figure? Never mind if he loses in K-1.
Of course Zuffa is acting this way because he's the champion. Lindland just fought in another promotion and he's fighting in UFC 49. Cabbage has fought in several, and is only in difficulty now because he violated a medical suspension. Liddell has fought in Pride three times since being in the UFC.
They cannot allow their champions to fight elsewhere. 1) If he loses, their title becomes meaningless. 2) Fighting in another promotions means less flexibility for setting up title defenses in UFC and fewer appearances in general on UFC cards.
BJ is doing what is best for him, Zuffa is doing what is best for them.
BJ went over to Japan and fought Gomi. How did the UFC treat him then? They gave him a his 3rd title shot. I would say that is support.he fought Gomi in Hawaii in his own event, ROTR.It`s not like he is the most exciting fighter in the world anyway.nore are half the UFC roster and Penn/Gomi was the most exciting fight ive ever seen.
they should have, theyd still have Penn.
but they didnt and now they dont.
Bullshit! Yes, strip him of his belt for violating his contract, but don't
ban him!
They didn't ban Sylvia for taking roids. What's up with that?
this is some bs.
lol, he never violated any terms of his contract. Zuffa was too stupid to put in a exclusality clause in his fight against Hughes in the event he won (shows how much faith they had in him winning). They've done this w/ other fighters who went for titles (see Newton after he won the WW title, he couldn't fight anywhere else as long as he was champ, this was agreed upon in the event he beat Pat which he did). This is just Zuffa being incompetent and petty once again, lets lose more exciting fighters but instead keep crap fighters (keep pushing Baroni, he may stick to the public eventually Dana! Or there is always Tiki!)
UFC is so bush league in their handling of fighters
he fought Gomi in Hawaii in his own event, ROTR.oops my bad... but I still understand the side the UFC is taking.
Once again the UFC chases off a champion and top level fighter. They really are adept at shooting themselves in the foot- so now there are no champions in 4 weight classes, that is really sad,what an organization. Makes me wonder why we support it so much. The UFC is VERY lucky it doesn't have much in the way of ppv competition other than Pride. I wish KOTC and some of the other orgs would get their shit together and really give the UFC some competiiton- i.e. motivation to start doing more things right.
Very sad indeed.....
Good.
Bottom line is UFC can't compete with the dollars that an organization like K1 or Pride or even Inoki Bom By Ye can throw at fighters.
The UFC was paying BJ way more than any other lightweight (including Jens Pulver) before he had any kind of name value. They gave him three shots at a belt and he finally won one.
As soon as he wins that belt he wants to go to Japan as the UFC champion and fight in another organization where he could possibly get beat and you guys can't understand why the UFC could possibly be upset by that???
BJ Penn wanted Matt Hughes money from the first minute he won the belt. Matt Hughes received that money by defending his belt over top contenders (Newton, Sakurai, Trigg, Sherk and Castillo) he didn't get it as soon as he won the title.
Zuffa had no problem when BJ fought Gomi in Rumble on the Rock because he didn't have a UFC title. Now that he does he's obligated to defend that title in the UFC not capitalize off having by running over to the first organization that throws money at him.
It seems to me that Zuffa was pretty damn loyal to BJ after a loss to Jens Pulver and very lackluster performances against Serra and Uno yet as soon as he gets a title he's taking off.
I have to side with Zuffa on this decison. It's a damn shame though that's for sure.
if you think this makes the UFC look bad now wait until bj defeats bang this weekend. this fight could have brought some luster back to the UFC. this fight could have shown the world that UFC champions are the best fighters in the world. i know its a risk on the UFC's part if he should lose but this is a bad move IMHO.
i wouldnt have stripped him
Dana...kiss my...
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UFC SUCKS!!!!THEY MIGHT AS WELL GET MANNY REYES!!!HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
So everyone that is complaining about BJ fighting somewhere else has never left a job to get paid better??? He wants to fight in the UFC. He just wanted to fight for good money and get better exposure. Don't you think if he loses it hurts his marketability as well??? Its a chance that he is willing to take. Give him props for stepping up and fighting a dangerous opponent.